The real story of the Black Cat gang. The whole truth about the Black Cat gang The history of the Black Cat gang

There has always been crime throughout the entire globe. The actions of the bandits are seemingly simple - come to the appointed place, kill several people, rob and that’s it, the money is received, and the raiders are happy. Russia was also no exception in the underworld, because it was here that some of the most serious crimes were committed, such as the Real Story of Murderers. Gang "Black Cat".

How it all began

The news that someone is being killed somewhere is no secret. Residents Russia We are already accustomed to such messages and are not at all surprised. Robberies, assaults, murders, economic crimes are the main components of criminal activity on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Crime has always existed, and law enforcement agencies tried to fight it with all their might. People created gangs and communities united by one goal - earn money. But the income had to come not legal, but “black”, that is, illegal. It was then that thoughts of murder, violence and theft came to people’s minds.

Organized crime groups called organized crime group, how rabbits “breeded” in the Soviet Union. People began to be afraid to go out, because they knew that it rarely ends well. The day when a person reached home calmly and was not robbed was considered lucky.

Each group had its own name, which distinguished it from the others. There are a huge number of such names in the criminal world, so it’s definitely not possible to get confused in crimes committed by any organization. Criminals liked to leave various identifying marks at the crime scene, which could be used to identify a particular criminal sect.

New era of crime

A new era of criminals began in the post-war years. It was then that new sects and groups were formed that kept the entire country in fear. Throughout Soviet Union there were “our own” people who were capable of absolutely anything.

The real story of the Black Cat gang begins at this time. They acted in a very original way, which is what they are remembered for in the criminal world. Gang members first chose a house or apartment that would later be robbed. A certain symbol was drawn on the door that looked like a black cat. This is how the criminals warned their victims that the place would soon be robbed.

The entire criminal world of that time liked the actions of the group, they considered it some kind of criminal " romance" This was the reason why the gang was constantly growing, suppressing many other groups with its authority. Of course, there were also petty swindlers who pretended to belong to the sect and also drew black cats. As a rule, the real bandits then found them and intimidated them to such an extent that people were simply afraid to leave their own home.

The first "raids"

Two "operators", walking around the territory in Khimki area, went to a regular grocery store. The employees watched a young man who stood near the counter and brazenly swore with the cashier, and his two accomplices stood on the “nix” on the porch of the building. The employees did not tolerate such insolence young man and it was decided to check his identity documents. The guy refused, for which the police began interrogation. The young man, without thinking twice, took out a pistol and shot both of them. Two law enforcement officers became the first victims of the gang " Black cat».

Of course, police departments throughout the city began to take an interest in people who killed law enforcement officers. A search for the criminals was organized. But after some time the gang “surfaces” again. An industrial goods store was raided. Two young men introduced themselves as security officers, misleading the employees and visitors of the outlet. Everyone present was locked in the utility room, and the raiders simply stole all the money in the store. The amount was decent - almost seventy thousand rubles.

For more than six months, law enforcement officials tried to track down the criminals, but to no avail. It turns out that the gang received a lot of money, so they decided to “go to the bottom.” But when all financial reserves run out, criminal activity " black cat"resumes. This time, the victims of the criminals were two similar stores of industrial goods, which in total enriched the group by almost ninety thousand rubles, which, of course, was a huge amount for that time.

Almost reached Stalin!

In early March 1951, a famous restaurant, famous for its wonderful cuisine, suffered losses from gang members. The bandits were confident that they were invulnerable. They arrived at the restaurant and, without attracting the attention of visitors or employees, ordered food and drinks for their table. Having had a hearty lunch, the criminals armed themselves with pistols and headed straight to the cash register table. At this time, one of the policemen was in the restaurant with his wife. Entering the fight with members of the group, was killed. Several other absolutely innocent people also died. People in the restaurant began to scream and panic, as a result of which the robbery was foiled.

One of the famous raids by criminals took place a couple of kilometers from Comrade Stalin’s dacha. All efforts were devoted to catching the criminals: law enforcement officers interrogated all the leaders of the criminal world, trying to extract at least some information about “ Black cat" But all to no avail.

Nikita Khrushchev finds no place for himself

Every day, members of an organized crime group, the name of which was on everyone's lips, attracted more and more attention. Patrolling the area led to the bandits meeting law enforcement officers at a metro station in a cafeteria. One of them had a weapon in his pocket, which the police noticed. They did not dare to detain the criminals here, since there were many people who could easily have been injured by inadequate bandits. On the street gang members rushed to run, starting a serious shootout with the police. Unfortunately, those who fled managed to escape.

Nikita Khrushchev was very angry with law enforcement agencies, because they could significantly “spoil” his career, since crime in the country of “working people” was increasing, and the head of the Moscow City Party Committee was sitting with folded hands.

But no threats or new forces could cope with the criminals’ obsession with the city. The year 1952 was fatal, because within a few months several raids were carried out, resulting in the death of more than twenty people.

First traces

In the winter of 1953, criminals decided to rob a savings bank located in Mytishchi. They, of course, succeeded in doing this. The revenue was within thirty thousand rubles.

The girl standing behind the cash register managed to press the so-called “panic button.” Immediately the phone rang throughout the room. One of the robbers picked up the phone and when asked, “Is this a savings bank?” answered “No, the stadium.” Then he hung up and the criminals fled.

Such a dialogue served as some kind of clue for the capture of especially dangerous criminals. After carefully analyzing their activities, law enforcement officers found out that it was not without reason that the answer to the call was “Stadium”. It turns out that all the robberies and robberies took place near various sports facilities. Plus, the bandits were physically in shape. Therefore, they had nothing to do with the criminal world, but were ordinary athletes?

Alcohol is evil

The operational services signed an order stating that it was necessary to immediately check all facilities intended for sports, observing various oddities.

One of these happened in the town of Krasnogorsk, near the sports arena. The young guy persuaded the cashier to sell him a full barrel of beer, after which anyone could come up and take as much as they wanted. Vladimir Arapov, an investigator, was at that time next to a suspicious person. He started checking.

It turns out that this rich man who treated everyone to alcohol was Vyacheslav Lukin, who was a student at one of the capital’s universities. He was an excellent student and an activist, and his friends were Komsomol members.

Arapov had a gut feeling that these were exactly the people the police had been looking for for several years. Later it turns out that before the robbery of the savings bank Vyacheslav Lukin was at the stadium. This became the main clue.

Unraveling all the threads, law enforcement agencies were able to get to the leader of the Black Cat a few weeks later. He turned out to be a certain Ivan Mitin, who works at the enterprise.

The real story of the gang " Black cat" ended there. Looking at the photo, you cannot immediately say that these people are criminals. They look like ordinary, calm citizens.

On that day, February 1, 1950, there was severe frost. Senior detective A. Kochkin and local district police officer V. Filin were walking around the territory in Khimki and decided to turn towards a grocery store. Meanwhile, there were three people there. Two went out to smoke, and the third entered the hall again. When questioned by the cashier, the young guy replied that he was a plainclothes police officer, but the vigilant saleswoman told the policemen who entered about her suspicions. A. Kochkin stopped two guys - tall, with an elongated face, and another, with flaxen hair and eyes almost like water. It was Mitin and Samarin. - I’ll ask for your documents.

Mitin sharply retorted:
- And who are you?
At that moment, Samarin pulled out a revolver from his bosom and fired at point-blank range. Detective Kochkin fell dead in the thick snow. The second policeman began to frantically take his weapon out of his holster. Mitin and Agafonov rushed to run across the deserted dark highway and a moment later heard another shot. But it was not the policeman who fired, but Samarin, who missed the second time. Everyone got to Krasnogorsk on their own, and only in the morning it became known that all three had survived. So their first bloody tattoo was applied to the white snow. But tomorrow was a new day - and yesterday’s bandits joined ordinary Krasnogorsk life. This life between the factory and the stadium covered them more reliably than any “raspberry” from Tishinka or Vakhrushinka. Samarin worked as an engraver at KMZ, knew his specialty very well and even became the winner of a socialist competition. His girlfriend, Aurora N., a student at a factory school, was of Spanish origin. At that time, in Krasnogorsk there was a whole community of Spaniards who, while still children, were evacuated to the USSR during the war with Franco. Despite the lack of information about the criminals, the MUR immediately sensed the presence of a dangerous, strong beast and tried to get on its trail day and night. The investigation took place in secrecy: the murder of a policeman happened a few weeks before the elections to the Supreme Council. The newspapers were full of pre-election commitments and economic achievements: electric factory workers unanimously demonstrated their selfless love for the great Stalin, and at the Zarya factory they found a way to use old film for the production of ladies' combs, powder compacts and pins. In this situation, the tragic death of a policeman right in front of people would reveal a too grim reality. Measures were taken to prevent rumors of a bloody attack from invading the campaign bustle of Moscow. The MUR accepted the challenge. On March 26, Samarin, Mitin and his old friend Grigoriev entered a department store in the Timiryazevsky district.
- Everyone stand! We are from the MGB!
Psychologically, they calculated accurately. The visitors were rooted to the floor. The general confusion allowed all three to quickly gain control of the crowd. Grigoriev, who remained at the entrance to the store, in a military overcoat without shoulder straps, aroused trust among passers-by and, if something happened, could divert attention without suspicion. After the robbery, the criminals forced the customers into the back room and padlocked the store. The loot turned out to be a fortune - 63 thousand rubles. In the autumn of 1950, the gang, together with a new member - a leading worker at the Tushinsky plant, Bolotov, flew into a department store of the Moscow Canal Shipping Company. Visitors were dumbfounded by the sight of the monster with bulging eyes - fearing to be recognized, Bolotov cut out a mask from a gas mask. In his hands he had a training grenade, which Mitin armed him with, and at the sight of it the cashier fainted. Having taken the money, Mitin threw away the small bills.
- In ten minutes, call where you are supposed to.
Still on edge from the November case, three weeks later the gang robbed a store on Kutuzovskaya Sloboda Street. The unfortunate cashier was in shock, she looked at them as if spellbound and repeated: “I’m afraid, I’m afraid...” Mitin ordered irritably:
- Turn away! Get into the stove with your head!
The stove was not lit.
The gang was heard from again on March 11, 1951. Hoping for easy prey, Mitin, Averchenkov and Ageev, armed with two guns, entered the “Blue Danube” on Leningradskoye Shosse (the pub was so called for its bold blue coloring) - they entered as visitors, hiding their pistols in their pockets. After spending time talking over vodka and beer, Mitin leaned back in his chair and surrendered to the heavy drunken melancholy. Finally, almost forcing himself to wake up, he pulled out a pistol and approached the cashier with threats. He was like a train that had lost control, flying downhill and destroying everything in its path. Shedding someone else's blood seemed as easy as spilling vodka. Junior police lieutenant Mikhail Biryukov was sitting at one of the tables with his wife. According to some sources, he had a weapon with him, according to others, he handed it over to the duty officer. One way or another, his brave rebuff cost him his life - two shots were fired and the young policeman was killed. The second bullet killed a factory worker at the next table. The rising scream and panic prevented the robbery from taking place. Mitin rushed out of the room. Noticing a man and woman moving towards him in the darkness, he fired again - fortunately, both were only wounded. The woman barely had time to jump into the entrance of the nearest house when the last bullet lodged in the door. Before the Murovites had time to develop search versions, as already on March 27, 1951, Averchenkov and Mitin, armed with ViS-35, TT pistols and a revolver, crashed into a crowd of buyers at the Kuntsevsky auction. Ageev was left at the entrance. And he calmly explained that the store would re-register. Mitin approached the glass box of the cash register and demanded money, but the cashier still did not understand what was happening:
- What about the director?
“It has been agreed with the director,” Mitin answered and tore open the door to the cash register.
The cashier screamed and her hair turned gray in front of everyone. Having taken the money, Mitin entered the director’s office and led the three men there into the trading floor. One of them, director Karp Antonov, jumped out the next door. Mitin burst in after him, with his pistol cocked. A brutal, desperate struggle ensued. The table overturned with a roar, but the director held the pistol's drum tightly. Mitin hit him with his head in the face and shot him point blank.

Gang members:

Ivan Mitin

Alexander Samarin

Vyacheslav Lukin

Stepan Dudnik

At an investigative experiment in Rublevo. In the center is the accused V. Lukin

Georgy Weiner, author of the script for the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”: “Although Sharapov is a collective image, he has a prototype - Volodya Arapov, who later became the head of the MUR department. He participated in the capture of the famous Mitin gang, which we personified as “Black Cat”.

The most mysterious gang of the Stalin era did not step into Moscow from a smoky gambling “raspberry”. And not from the zone - the forge of bandit personnel. Ten guys - ten black cats - went hunting on the streets of Moscow straight from the red honor board of the defense plant of Krasnogorsk near Moscow. They were a gang by choice, not by lifestyle. They were seen in person, they were known by name. They did not inspire fear in anyone. Despite the mass production of the famous Zorkiy camera, the main production of the Krasnogorsk plant was special products: topographic and panoramic aerial cameras, infrared guidance systems, night sights for artillery, tanks and the Kalashnikov assault rifle. The city has come a long way from its childhood - the small village of Krasnaya Gorka. The life of the city was closely connected with the defense industry, and its Zenit stadium was a sports base for the Moscow region, the heart of Krasnogorsk, with strong teams in hockey, football, volleyball, and athletics. A young company often gathered in the wooden pavilion of the stadium: Ivan Mitin, a tall guy from aircraft factory No. 34, blond engraver from KMZ Alexander Samarin and his friend Agafonov, factory team hockey player Vyacheslav Lukin, Grigoriev and Korovin, also from KMZ. The stadium was a place of communication - here they discussed sports, talked about life in general. Dates were arranged here. Russia did not survive long without the tower. The two-year moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in January 1950. And almost immediately, like a terrible challenge, the murder of a police officer occurred in the capital. The MGB was shaking. The Kuntsevo store was located just a few kilometers from Stalin’s Near Dacha. Abakumov created an intelligence network in the capital, in which, it seemed, even small fish could not slip through unnoticed. But just a large unknown fish avoided his nets. Reports about the next raid were flying onto his desk. The reports of agents and MGB employees did not miss another thing: Muscovites are in a panic, rumors about an elusive gang of raiders are flying out of control. In Moscow, many believe that the “Black Cat” has returned. State Security Commissioner of the third rank Makariev considered it necessary to convey this information to Abakumov in a memo. He did not hide the fact that the MGB was hesitating about what line to take in the current situation. But the minister knew how to rid people of the weakness of doubt: “Don’t know what to do? Put everyone in prison for spreading anti-Soviet rumors!” In the spring of 1951, Professor Ya. Etinger died in Lefortovo. He died in prison after interrogation by the senior investigator for particularly important cases, Ryumin. In a panic, Ryumin writes a denunciation letter to Stalin, in which he accused the Minister of State Security Abakumov of the deliberate murder of a prisoner. They say that in this way Abakumov sabotages the investigation of the anti-state conspiracy and dissociates himself from the course of the great Stalin. Abakumov’s case was started in the spring of 1951, but he still did not suspect anything and read the reports about the elusive gang. Her impunity and anonymity undermined the authority of the detective department.

In the photo is Vladimir Arapov. 1950 (from the archive of retired Major General V.P. Arapov). Meanwhile, Mitin now rarely left Krasnogorsk without a pistol in his pocket, even when he went to visit his father, who worked in the forestry department in Kratovo. On this day, not finding him there, he got off at Udelnaya station along with Ageev and Averchenkov to buy a drink at the station buffet. Due to increased security on trains and to maintain law and order, police officers were now often seen at stations. However, the three bandits noticed them only when they had already settled down at the table. Ageev became nervous:
- We have to leave. There are too many police around here!
But Mitin didn’t bat an eye, calmly took off his jacket and continued drinking. The evening was hot. He was wearing trousers and a summer shirt, and the TT pistol was clearly visible in his pocket. Mitin's calmness was almost defiant. The police realized that the matter was taking a dangerous turn.
- Ivan, let's leave! We saw a garbage trunk! - Ageev insisted. - I know.
The police did not want to endanger others and did not detain the suspicious group inside the restaurant. They watched as Mitin and Ageev calmly walked past. Coming out onto the platform, Mitin quickly jumped onto the railway track and turned towards the forest.
- Stop! - the policemen rushed after him.
Mitin pulled out a pistol, and a real shootout unfolded. He was on the verge of death, but the bullets stubbornly flew past. All three managed to escape. MUR was defeated again.
Soon after these events, Ageev, with impeccable characteristics, entered the Naval Mine and Torpedo Aviation School in Nikolaev. The bandit vacancy was vacant. But not for long. Mitin brought twenty-four-year-old Nikolaenko, restless after his prison sentence, to the case.
The head of the Moscow city party committee, Nikita Khrushchev, demanded information from the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department and the MGB about the elusive gang. He gathered the heads of all police departments for a special meeting and threatened them with demotion and arrest. The threat was not unfounded. The MGB actually arrested the heads of two police departments on whose territory the robberies took place.
However, acting through arrests and intimidation was like firing blank cartridges. Khrushchev knew that Beria liked to tread on sore spots: in the capital they rob, as in the Civil War, they kill, as in war, the police have been unable to catch the insolent raiders for three years, and the first secretary is unable to ensure the safety of Muscovites. Khrushchev was catastrophically losing in the struggle for Moscow positions. It is unknown whether Beria described the criminal situation in his reports to Stalin.
“I think Stalin knew,” says Vladimir Arapov. - When I was investigating the murder of a major military engineer, I accompanied Beria several times in his Buick to the Near Dacha. High-profile crimes were always reported.

The next crime scene is Susokolovskoye Highway (on the left is the territory of the Botanical Garden)

The store in Kutuzovskaya Sloboda, where the raid took place. 1953
The photo shows another crime scene - Susokolovskoye Highway (on the left is the territory of the Botanical Garden). In August 1952, a gang broke into a tea shop at the Snegiri station. The tea room just sounds innocent. In those days, the canteens did not serve strong drinks, and you could buy alcohol in the tea houses, so the cash register worked briskly. When the tall dark figure of Mitin blocked the entrance and a sharp cry was heard: “On the floor!”, everyone seemed numb from surprise and horror. Mitin drew his weapon and in a matter of seconds forced everyone to obey. But the watchman N. Kraev rushed into the back room and tore the gun off the wall. Mitin fired. Kraev died on the same day in the hospital. There were about four thousand in the cash register. For many, it's a fortune. For the Mityans, the risk is wasted. A month later, Lukin and Mitin went by electric train to Moscow to choose a new point for the robbery. A suitable object soon appeared - the “Beer-Water” tent on the Leningradskaya platform. Having met on a deserted platform, all three entered the tent building. Averchenkov locked the door from the inside and remained at the entrance, and Lukin demanded the proceeds from the cashier and, pulling her own leather suitcase towards him, threw the money into it. A customer at a nearby table stood up.
- What are you doing, mother t... - The shot interrupted his indignation and life itself. Then another visitor rushed at Mitin and received a bullet in the head.
- Why are you messing around there? - Lukin, an exemplary MAI student, shouted over his shoulder.
Mitin ran out to the platform with Lukin and at the last minute jumped onto the departing train. Getting off at the next station, they walked across the bridge over the Skhodnya. Swinging, Lukin threw the bag as far as possible into the dark river, and it swallowed the evidence. The photo shows a store in Kutuzovskaya Sloboda, where the raid was carried out. 1953 The bandit madness continued. Late in the evening of November 1, 1952, Mitin, Lukin, Bolotov and Averchenkov approached a store near the Botanical Garden. Another shadow from the Krasnogorsk plant fell onto the area illuminated by an electric lantern - Korovin, “an excellent student in combat and political training with good prospects.” It must be said that in October 1952, the USSR Council of Ministers decided to entrust the police with the protection of trade and industrial enterprises. But no one was guarding the Timiryazevsky store. There was a small line at the cash register. Mitin loudly ordered everyone to lie down on the floor. The cashier was indignant and fearlessly refused to give money. Bolotov shot her in the shoulder. Having robbed the cash register of twenty-four thousand rubles, the bandits went out into the street and quickly moved along the deserted Susokolovskoye Highway. Two, one of whom was Lukin, fell behind. A police lieutenant passing nearby called out to them and asked them to light a cigarette. Suspecting something was wrong - from the looks, from the vodka, from snatches of conversation - he demanded to see documents. Turning towards the noise, Mitin decided that the lieutenant was making an arrest and interrupted the conversation with a shot. Mortally wounded, the lieutenant fell prone, and Mitin disappeared in the direction of the Botanical Garden.

Detective Arapov's intuition

In January 1953, Lukin and Bazaev performed at hockey competitions in Mytishchi and noticed a savings bank there on Dzerzhinsky Square. The entire “team” arrived at the appointed place a day later, around noon. Entering the savings bank, Mitin with one jerk closed the door with a heavy battery and went up to the cash register. One of the cashiers screamed, and he hit her twice in the face with the pistol with such force that the clip fell out and flew to the side. Mitin stood in the center of the hall and held everyone at gunpoint with a second pistol. Lukin jumped over the counter and grabbed the money into his bag - 30 thousand rubles. The silence was broken by a ringing bell. After a short moment of confusion, Lukin picked up the phone.
- Is this a savings bank? - a male voice rang out.
At the other end of the line there was a police department duty officer - the cashier still managed to press the alarm button.
- No, the stadium.
Vladimir Arapov immediately drew attention to the robber’s strange slip. Why stadium? Why not a store, a restaurant, a bathhouse, after all? He compared the raid points on the operational map, and he was struck by a circumstance that he had not paid attention to before. Many robberies took place near local stadiums - Dynamo, Mytishchi, Tushino, a stadium in the Stalinsky district and other sports centers. Arapov immediately gave traction to this version. All the pieces of the puzzle came together in his head at once. There are always a lot of people around the stadiums - and no one pays attention to the groups of young guys. But, according to the descriptions of witnesses, the robbers were young men sporty look . Could it be that all these years the MUR has been chasing a ghost? Behind a gang of criminals that never existed? Could it be that these are not criminals, but athletes or fans? Orders were again sent to all police departments to pay attention to any unusual events among young people, especially during sporting events. This time they didn’t wait long. Out of excess energy and money, Lukin decided to show off. Having drunk with friends near the Krasnogorsk stadium, he, laughing, rolled away from the outlet with a barrel of beer, and when the saleswoman threatened to call the police, Lukin bought the entire barrel and immediately began treating everyone. Among those who readily surrounded the guy was Vladimir Arapov. He drank the offered mug with pleasure - cold beer in the cold - and took note of the lively young man who parted with his money so easily. In the morning, the detective arrived in Krasnogorsk again. At first he didn’t find any incriminating evidence; there seemed to be nothing to grab onto. Lukin and his friends work at defense factories, are respected, and play sports. In general, young guys live in the spirit of the times. Two of them are inseparable - Lukin and Mitin. A hockey player and turner from KMZ Bazaev is often with them. It looks like they have money, they sometimes go to restaurants in Krasnogorsk and Moscow... But they drink little, are unmarried, and at defense factories they pay normally. Why shouldn't there be money? Their lives are no different from the lives of others. The only circumstance aroused suspicion: Lukin went to the Mytishchi stadium on the eve of the savings bank robbery. The Krasnogorsk stadium began to be grazed by operatives and police agents. They were especially interested in Ivan Mitin. Everything about him aroused suspicion in Vladimir Arapov. His look, his habits, his brown leather coat. Based on a clear imprint in the snow, it was determined that the boots of one of the company members leave a relief pattern, similar to the prints inside the galoshes abandoned in the Mytishchi savings bank. “When Lukin went to Murmansk, to Nikolaenko’s camp,” says Vladimir Arapov, “in his compartment our employee got hooked. Taking advantage of the moment when Lukin and Bazaev went out to the restaurant, he opened the suitcase and found twenty thousand rubles in a bank package. After checking the banknote numbers, it was found out that this was money from the robbery of the Podlipkovsky savings bank. The operative asked for further instructions. Moscow has instructed that the money reach the recipient without hindrance. It turned out to be Nikolaenko.” Having found Mitin’s other connections, the police found Samarin, a prisoner of the Sverdlovsk camp (he was accidentally caught for possessing a pistol). His description coincided with the information about the blond guy who shot A. Kochkin in February 1950. At a time when Moscow was looking for bandits from the “Black Cat” category, fiends of hell, morally completely poor and deaf, the leak of information about the real carriers of evil could have the effect of a bomb exploding. After all, these Krasnogorsk guys did everything that the country demanded: they worked for the defense industry, responded to Stalin’s call to lead in sports, were good comrades... And they robbed openly - quickly, brazenly, cruelly. The Murovites were shocked. Maybe then the MGB came up with the idea to cover up the true state of affairs with the myth of the thugs from the “returning” “Black Cat”? After all, the gangster underground continued to swarm with criminals who were much more “typical” in the minds of ordinary citizens. Ideological interests required a “leak” of information about the discovery by employees of the MUR and the MGB of a dangerous gang of repeat offenders, and not young Komsomol workers from a defense plant.

Punishment

At one time, Ivan Mitin learned and remembered well - people end up behind bars either from drunken spending, or from the denunciation of a gang of thieves. And then he decided that when big money appeared in the hands of his gang, the first thing he would do was prohibit his extravagant antics and any contacts with criminals. This is what kept them afloat for so long.
Mitin turned out to be right: violation of these two rules led to the collapse of the gang.
In those years, the future football hero Lev Yashin worked in the tool shop of the plant. He entered the “five hundredth” as a young man, returning from evacuation (L. Yashin’s father worked at a defense plant), and soon began playing for the factory football team. Similar lives, such different destinies.
Before the fatal arrest, Mitin did not spend the night at home for two days. His accomplice Averchenkov came to see him in Gubaylovo several times and could not find him. He came again and waited again. Finally, Mitin appeared late at night on February 13th. After talking a little, they both went to bed in his room. At six o'clock in the morning police officers burst into the house.
Compared to the criminals with whom Vladimir Arapov had to deal, Mitin stood out for his self-control and directness, lack of fear and even sense of humor. From the very beginning he knew that he would be shot, and yet, without any tricks or hope of salvation, he testified and helped restore the picture of crimes in investigative experiments. “It’s a pity that they did this to themselves and to others,” Arapov says thoughtfully . - I had to interrogate Lukin’s fiancée. Such a good, beautiful girl. And Lukin himself was not a stupid guy, he behaved calmly, you can’t say that he was twenty-one years old... When I saw Mitin, I thought - I would have shot him myself, with these very hands. And when I started talking to him, it was as if there was another person in front of me. I flew to Odessa for Ageev, a cadet at the Naval Mine and Torpedo Aviation School, he was among the pilots patrolling the sea border. I presented an arrest warrant, but there was a problem. At the time the crimes were committed, the accused was a civilian, but now he was at the disposal of the military district. Therefore, the head of the unit demanded a warrant from the military prosecutor's office. I had to fly back to Moscow, get my own hands on a new warrant and fly back. The arrested man was handcuffed and flown to Moscow.”
The Nikolaev School trained pilots and mechanic specialists for bomber and mine-torpedo aircraft. Already in the first year, cadets mastered the Ut-2 and Il-4 aircraft, and graduates flew the Il-28 jet aircraft. An arrest for armed banditry in the ranks of a military school of this rank was an unprecedented event. Ageev, who flew higher than everyone else, fell from a greater height than the rest.
For another member of the Mitino group - Bolotov, banditry became like a kind of second front - Bolotov did not fight, since the plant gave reservations. Attack, risk, weapons added spice to his settled life. This is one of the inaccuracies in the NTV program about “Black Cat”. Bolotov was not a front-line soldier, and he was a coward by nature. Having acquired a taste for leftist money, Bolotov became bolder and opened up to his friend Averchenkov:
- Why do you work two shifts? You can take a store and have money.
It never occurred to Averchenkov to break the law. But he trusted Bolotov, a senior comrade and communist: in fact, I found a pistol when I was still a kid...
Lukin's father, a police officer and communist, was sent to a psychiatric hospital from the shock and shame that befell him, where he soon died. At the trial, Lukin Jr. will declare with vengeful frankness: “If my father lived with us in Last year, nothing would have happened. He was very strict and would not allow me to take the path of crime.”
Vladimir Arapov has been hunting for Mitin for more than one year. He knew his bloody deeds. And yet he told me without explanation:
- He was an unusual guy. Calm. The gaze is intense, but friendly. It was easy to talk to him.
Mitin admitted that he had committed terrible, serious crimes, but avoided words about repentance or mercy. The only charge he opposed was the charge of terror against the Soviet regime. This was to be expected. As Vysotsky sang with irony - “How can I look people in the eye with such a wording?!”
The arrest of eleven members of the Krasnogorsk gang coincided with the death of Stalin. In Krasnogorsk, in the darkness of houses, barracks and communal apartments, relatives and friends struggled to overcome the losses that had befallen them. Personal grief mixed with national shock.
- Prayer, filled with Christian love, reaches God. We believe that our prayer for the deceased will be heard by the Lord. And to our beloved and unforgettable... - the words of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy I reached the people's ears on the day of Stalin's funeral.

Confession of a thief in law

In the cold summer of 1953, a criminal amnesty took place, and streams of former criminals moved from east to west, filling cities and towns. But detectives and thieves called Mitin’s gang “the last” for a long time. Perhaps because it was the last gang of Stalin's time.
Unexpectedly, the sinister glory of the Mitino gang found additional confirmation in 1959. While in the city of Stalino (Donetsk), the writer Eduard Khrutsky visited the thief in law Andrei Klimov, known in the criminal world under the nickname Cross, in the camp. He had been serving a sentence with no end in sight since 1947. Klimov, who survived the penal battalion, the gang and the “bitch” war, was distinguished by his composure and observation.
- Bloody “Black Cat” - is this your group? - asked Eduard Khrutsky.
- No. There were about ten such “Black Cats” in Moscow alone, and two thousand throughout the Union. “This is how myths die,” thought Khrutsky.
- So there was no “Black Cat”?
“No,” Klimov grinned. - If you are interested in a real gang, then talk to the trash, let them tell you about Mitina.
- Who is this?
- The last Moscow bandit. He was tied up just before Stalin's death.
Thief in law Klimov recognized the “real gang” as the one that had never been connected with the criminal world. At the end of 1978, Vladimir Vysotsky performed at the Winter Club of Krasnogorsk (now the Salyut Palace of Culture). But even he did not know the whole truth then. And he could not foresee what kind of impetus the upcoming film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”, the power of its realism and generalization, would give to the audience’s imagination. The film took the story in reverse. Fictional characters caused associations and searches for similar criminal authorities of the 1940s. So the case of the Mitino gang was buried for many years under the paws of the “Black Cat” - a myth that became reality...

The most mysterious gang of the Stalin era, “Black Cat,” haunted Muscovites for 3 years with its daring raids. Taking advantage of the difficult post-war situation and the gullibility of citizens, Mitin’s gang “ripped off” large sums of money and walked away unharmed.

A series of "Black cats"

In post-war Moscow, the crime situation was alarming. This was facilitated by a shortage of essential products among the population, hunger, and a large number of unaccounted for captured and Soviet weapons.

The situation was aggravated by the growing panic among the people; One loud precedent was enough for frightening rumors to appear.

Such a precedent in the first post-war year was the statement of the director of a Moscow trade that he was threatened by the Black Cat gang. Someone began to draw a black cat on the door of his apartment, and the director of the bridge store began to receive threatening notes written on notebook paper.

On January 8, 1946, the MUR investigative team went to the alleged crime scene to ambush the attackers. At five in the morning they were already caught. They turned out to be several schoolchildren. The boss was seventh-grader Volodya Kalganov. The future film playwright and writer Eduard Khrutsky was also in this “gang”.

The schoolchildren immediately admitted their guilt, saying that they simply wanted to intimidate the “grabber” who lived comfortably in the rear while their fathers fought at the front. Of course, the matter was not allowed to proceed. As Eduard Khrutsky later admitted, “they pressed us on the necks and let us go.”

Even before this, there were rumors among people that before robbing an apartment, thieves draw a “black cat” on its door - an analogue of a pirate’s “black mark”. Despite all the absurdity, this legend was enthusiastically taken up by the criminal world. In Moscow alone there were at least a dozen “Black Cats”; later similar gangs began to appear in other Soviet cities.

These were mainly teenage groups who, firstly, were attracted by the romance of the image itself - the “black cat”, and secondly, they wanted to throw the detectives off their trail with such a simple technique. However, by 1950, the activity of the “Black Cats” came to naught, many were caught, many simply grew up and stopped playing around, flirting with fate.

“You can’t kill policemen”

Agree, the story of “Black Cat” bears little resemblance to what we read in the book by the Weiner brothers and saw in the film by Stanislav Govorukhin. However, the story about the gang that terrorized Moscow for several years was not invented.

Over the three years of its existence, the Mitino members committed 28 robberies, killed 11 people and wounded 12 more. The total income from their criminal activities amounted to more than 300 thousand rubles. The amount is substantial. A car in those years cost about 2,000 rubles.

Mitin's gang made itself known loudly - with the murder of a policeman. On February 1, 1950, senior detective Kochkin and district police officer Filin were making their rounds when they caught Mitin and an accomplice preparing for a robbery at a store in Khimki. A shootout ensued. Kochkin was killed on the spot. The criminals managed to escape.

Even among experienced criminals there is an understanding that “policemen cannot be killed,” but here they are shot at point-blank range without warning. The MUR realized that they would have to deal with a new type of criminal, cold-blooded lawbreakers.

This time they robbed the Timiryazevsky department store. The criminals' loot was 68 thousand rubles.

The criminals didn't stop there. They made one daring raid after another. In Moscow, talk began to circulate that the “Black Cat” had returned, and this time everything was much more serious. The city was in panic. No one felt safe, and the MUR and the MGB took the actions of the Mitino men as a challenge to them personally.

Khrushchev on a string

The murder of policeman Kochkin was committed by the Mitino members shortly before the elections to the Supreme Council. The rosy information agenda of those days, with assurances about economic growth, that life was getting better, that crime had been eradicated, ran counter to the robberies that took place.

The MUR took all necessary measures to ensure that these incidents did not become public knowledge.

Mitin’s gang announced itself just three months after Nikita Khrushchev, who arrived from Kyiv, became the head of the Moscow Regional Committee. At that time, information about all high-profile crimes was placed on the table of the highest officials of the state. Joseph Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria could not help but know about the “Mitytsy”. New arrival Nikita Khrushchev found himself in a delicate situation; he was personally interested in the “Mitinets” being found as soon as possible.

In March 1952, Khrushchev personally came to the MUR in order to carry out a “cleaning”.

As a result of the visit of the “high authorities,” two heads of regional departments were arrested, and a special operational headquarters was created at the MUR for the Mitin gang case. Some historians believe that the Mitino case could have played a decisive role in the history of the confrontation between Khrushchev and Beria. If Mitin’s gang had not been exposed before Stalin’s death, then Beria could have taken the place of the head of state.

The head of the MUR Museum, Lyudmila Kaminskaya, said directly in the film about “Black Cat”: “It was like they were going through such a struggle. Beria was removed from business, he was sent to head the nuclear energy industry, and Khrushchev oversaw all law enforcement agencies. And, of course, Beria needed Khrushchev to be untenable in this post. That is, he was preparing a platform for himself to remove Khrushchev.”

Production leaders

The main problem for the detectives was that they were initially looking in the wrong place and with the wrong people. From the very beginning of the investigation, Moscow criminals as one “went into denial” and denied any connection with the “Mitinsky” group.

As it turned out, the sensational gang consisted entirely of leaders in production and people far from the criminal “raspberries” and the circle of thieves. In total, the gang consisted of 12 people.

Most of them lived in Krasnogorsk and worked at a local factory.

The leader of the gang, Ivan Mitin, was a shift foreman at defense plant No. 34. Interestingly, at the time of his capture, Mitin was nominated for a high government award - the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. 8 of the 11 gang members also worked at this plant, two were cadets at prestigious military schools.

In a sense, sport became the connecting link between the accomplices. After the war, Krasnogorsk was one of the best sports bases near Moscow; there were strong teams in volleyball, football, bandy and athletics. The first gathering place for the “Mitinites” was the Krasnogorsk Zenit stadium.

Exposure

Only in February 1953, MUR employees managed to get on the trail of the gang. “Mitintsev” was let down by banal indiscretion. One of them, Lukin, bought a whole barrel of beer from the Krasnogorsk stadium. This aroused legitimate suspicion among the police. Lukin was put under surveillance. Gradually, the number of suspects began to increase. Before the arrest, it was decided to conduct a confrontation. MUR officers in plain clothes brought several witnesses to the stadium and, in the crowd, led them to a group of suspects who were identified.

The Mityans were arrested differently than in the film. They detained us without any fuss - in apartments.

One member of the gang, Samarin, was not found in Moscow, but later he was detained. He was found in Ukraine, where he was in prison for fighting.

The court sentenced Ivan Mitin and Alexander Samarin to capital punishment - death by firing squad; the sentence was carried out in Butyrka prison. Lukin was sentenced to 25 years in prison. A day after his release, in 1977, he died mysteriously.

The country was gangster after the war. This is especially noticeable in large cities. Young men returning from the war who only knew how to hold a weapon in their hands, growing youth who did not have...

The country was gangster after the war. This is especially noticeable in large cities. Young men returning from the war who only knew how to hold a weapon in their hands, growing youth who had no childhood, street children... All this became a breeding ground for the criminal life of the country.

One of the most famous criminal communities was the Black Cat gang. Only the lazy don't know about it. The talent of the Weiner brothers and Stanislav Govorukhin was glorified by the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, leading the fight against an incredibly cruel criminal association.

But the real events did not reach the viewer. "Brokeback" and many other gang members are fictional by writers. The gang consisted of good citizens of the country of the Soviets.

"Cat" abundance of the post-war period

As always, reality and literary images do not coincide. Immediately after the war, rumors appeared in the country that there was a gang that left a mark after a robbery - they painted a stylized black cat on the door or any smooth surface. However, reality is very different from fiction.

I liked the romance, in the form of a black silhouette. Bandit groups and ordinary street thieves began to use it in their raids. “Black cats” multiplied like mushrooms. Even street punks considered it their duty to decorate a broken park bench with a black silhouette.

And ordinary boys in the courtyards also portrayed the “black cat” gang. The famous writer Eduard Khrutsky ended up in such a “gang” in 1946. The teenagers decided to scare a citizen who lived comfortably during the war, when their fathers fought for their homeland and their families were starving.

Of course, the “gang” of teenagers was identified, hit on the neck and sent home. The real members of the “Black Cat” gang are robbers who take the lives and valuables of poor people.

Bloody Beginning

In the winter of 1950, in Khimki, a gang first emerged. They came into the view of two policemen - Filin and Kochkin - who were walking around their assigned area. In the Groceries store, a man argued with a saleswoman, who showed vigilance and demanded a police ID.

Restaurant "Blue Danube"

The police also failed to look at the documents. The friends of the “plainclothes officer” who were smoking on the porch opened fire on the policemen. The detective fell. In the fifties, killing a policeman was a serious event. The entire Moscow police, raised to their feet, could not find the bandits.

The gang made itself known. Having attacked a department store, “MGB officers,” as they introduced themselves, locked the sellers and buyers in a back room and took out 68,000 rubles. Employees searched for them for six months, carefully shaking up the well-known “raspberries.” But they did not achieve success.

Vladimir Pavlovich Arapov

The bandits “got to the bottom” with a big jackpot. However, money has the ability to run out. A department store was robbed - 24,000 rubles were stolen; an attack on a store on Kutuzovsky Prospekt - 62,000 rubles were stolen. Requests grew, and confidence in impunity gave courage.

Next to Stalin

Ordinary vacationers at the Blue Danube restaurant suddenly rose from the table and went to the cash register. They threatened me with a pistol and demanded cash. Mikhail Biryukov, a policeman, was vacationing there with his wife. He had a day off, but he got into a fight with armed bandits. The panic began. Shoot the officer.

At the same time, a worker resting in the hall also died from an accidental bullet. The bandits left the restaurant without any loot. More successful was the raid on the Kuntsevsky trade market, where the director, who got into hand-to-hand combat with the leader, was killed. For the Moscow leadership, the situation was extremely difficult.

The last attack happened near the “Near Dacha” of the leader of the peoples. The entire Moscow police demanded that the criminal authorities hand over the gang. But they swore that no one among them could allow this. And rumors exaggerated the number of raids and killings. “Black Cat” has firmly found its feet in Moscow.

For three years the gang attacked the capital and its surroundings. Snegiri station - a watchman was killed, a "Beer and Water" tent - a random man was killed who was trying to help a saleswoman, a store in the Botanical Garden - a salesman was wounded, a policeman was killed. Raids with tragic outcomes occurred more and more often.

Call

The MUR had smart employees. The alarm sounded from the savings bank, where the bandits took 30,000 rubles, the cashier managed to press the panic button, and became the object of careful consideration. When the police called to check the alarm, the bandit answered: “Is this a savings bank?” "No, the stadium."

Why stadium? Detective Vladimir Arapov carefully analyzed the situation. The map showed that all robberies take place near sports grounds. It turns out that the bandits could have been athletes.

Generous guy with a barrel of beer

The police were ordered to pay attention to anything unusual around the athletes. And this happened in Krasnogorsk. The guy paid for and bought a barrel of beer and began handing out the foamy drink to passers-by for free. There were plenty of people interested. Among the lucky ones was Arapov.

The MUR, based on Arapov’s fresh impressions, initiated an investigation. The “rich man” turned out to be a student at the Moscow Aviation Institute, and his friends were workers from a defense plant. It seemed that these were exemplary Soviet athletes, Komsomol members, and social activists. And yet, the detective sensed that the trail was correct.

He turned out to be right. The gang consisted of twelve people who had nothing to do with crime. Ivan Mitin, the leader of the gang, was presented with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Two military school cadets, students, advanced workers. They were brought together by sport.

In total, the gang carried out twenty-eight raids, eleven of which resulted in murders. Eighteen people were injured. The arrested Mitin calmly testified. He knew that for his atrocities there was only one possible punishment - the death penalty.

The case was so deafeningly wrong from an ideological point of view that it was classified. Shock workers of communist labor, Komsomol activists, excellent students, cadets of military schools. All were sentenced to long prison terms ranging from 10 to 25 years.

Mitin and Alexander Samarin, who directly killed people, received capital punishment. The werewolves, who lived normal lives during the day and became murderers and bandits at night, received what they deserved.